BBC TO MAKE 'HIS DARK MATERIALS' TRILOGY INTO MINISERIES

Written by Daniel Kirby on 5th November 2015

The announcement comes during a period of turbulent relations between the BBC and ITV, the latter having sparked the rift by suggesting that the BBC needs to stop buying US film and TV series and producing 'derivative' content. As such the announcement has come at an apt time for the BBC, given the fact that the series is written by a British author and promises to be quite unlike the content which ITV has criticised.

The series will be shot in Wales and is to be produced by Bad Wolf and New Line Cinema. Bad Wolf is a newly established production company founded by former BBC executives Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner, who were behind productions including Doctor Who and Torchwood. New Line Cinema are a Warner Bros subsiduary taking their first foray into UK television and their second attempt at a Dark Materials production, having been behind the 2007 film The Golden Compass.

His Dark Materials has sold over 17.5 million copies and has been translated into 40 different languages, so the series will have big expectations to live up to. Promisingly however, Philip Pullman has suggested that he has high hopes for the production, explaining how long stories have been expertly played out on television in recent years due to the fact that they are able to 'take the time for events to make their proper impact and for consequences to unravel.' Combined with the fact that the producers of the series have promised to 'sound every note' of the story, it looks as though this series has the potential to be a great success.

There is no word on a debut date but work on the production looks set to start next year.